Musk travels to Israel amid accusations of antisemitism
Elon Musk met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in Israel, where the pair toured the Kfar Azza kibbutz, one of the Jewish communities attacked by Hamas militants during their Oct. 7 cross-border assault.
After touring the scene of the violence, Musk was shown a video documenting some of the atrocities that took place, according to a conversation between the two men broadcast afterward on X, formerly known as Twitter. Musk said it was jarring to visit the site and troubling to see the joy on the faces of Hamas militants as they killed innocent people.
“It’s one thing obviously if civilians die accidentally, but it’s another thing to revel in the joy of killing civilians. … That’s evil,” Musk said.
Musk also rebuffed arguments that Israel has disproportionately killed civilians in Gaza, saying the actions of Hamas militants were intentional. “There is an important difference here, which is Israel tries to avoid killing civilians,” Musk said.
The trip comes as Musk faces widespread criticism for his decision to loosen content moderation on X after he purchased the platform last year. Since the Hamas attack, antisemitic content has surged more than 900% on the platform, The Washington Post reported. Disinformation specialists have accused Musk of playing a uniquely potent role by easing moderation standards and amplifying antisemitic tropes.
Musk has also been condemned by the White House for indicating support for an antisemitic conspiracy theory on X, a move U.S. officials called an “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate.” A number of major advertisers have fled X after their ads appeared next to pro-Nazi posts.
Musk did not directly address those allegations in his conversation with Netanyahu on Monday, but he said there is a need to “stop the propaganda that is convincing people to engage in murder.” The militants must be “neutralized,” he added.
Later on Monday, Musk met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who decried “the oldest disease in humanity, antisemitism” and pointed to Musk’s “huge role” in preventing antisemitic content from spreading online, according to Herzog’s press office.
“We need to fight it together, because on the platforms which you lead, unfortunately, there’s a harboring of a lot of all the hate,” Herzog told Musk.
Referring to his meeting with Netanyahu, Musk called for three things to happen in Gaza: the killing of those who “insist on murdering civilians,” the overhaul of education so a new generation of killers does not take hold and the development of prosperity.
Watching Hamas militants kill innocent people illustrated how propaganda can incite people to violence, Musk said.
“These people have been fed propaganda since they were children and it’s remarkable what humans are capable of if they’re fed falsehoods from when they are children,” Musk said. “They will think that the murder of innocent people is a good thing. That is how much propaganda can affect people’s minds.”
Separately on Monday, Musk reached a “principle understanding” with Israel to operate SpaceX’s Starlink satellites in Gaza, according to Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, but only with Israeli approval.
Israeli officials have warned Musk against supplying aid organizations within Gaza with internet connectivity through Starlink, saying it would be used by Hamas.
Gaza has suffered several communications blackouts since the war began, effectively sealing off the enclave’s residents from the outside world and one another. Aid groups inside the strip said Palestinians were unable to contact emergency services amid heavy strikes under those blackouts.
“This understanding is vital, as it is for everyone who desires a better world, free of evil and free of antisemitism, for our children’s sake,” Karhi wrote on X before welcoming Musk to the country.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
How Starlink would operate in Gaza was not immediately clear. Starlink uses about 5,000 satellites operated by SpaceX to beam internet signals to stations on the ground. It is used primarily in rural and remote areas without broadband access to the internet and has served as a communications lifeline in disaster zones.